I like Lote Tuqiri, always have. He is such a tidy rugby player. When he switched from rugby league in 2002, the transition was so seamless that he made the Wallabies back line the following year, even scoring a try against England in the World Cup final.

Many of the allegedly stellar league converts to union have been a waste of space. Wendell Sailor? Rubbish. Lesley Vainikolo? Plainly inadequate. Henry Paul? No more than mediocre. For every Jason Robinson, there were an awful lot of duds. Tuqiri always seemed to be one of the more successful examples. He had a natural affinity with the rhythms and intricacies of union.

So it was a bit of a shock to go to Leicester last week to find the big wing rather sad. That's SAD as in seasonal affective disorder. The man from Fiji via Oz, who faces Clermont Auvergne on Sunday afternoon in an important Heineken Cup tie, is struggling to come to terms with life in the Midlands.

''The club has been great,'' he said. ''I can't fault that aspect. It's just getting used to the conditions and the weather. That's been the main thing for me. People talk about winter depression. Well, I think I probably have it. I do get down after a few days of bad weather. It's always grey over here. On the rare occasion the sun has shone, I've had to get myself outside to sit in it, even though it has been cold. It's affected me, to be honest with you.''

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So much so there are doubts as to whether Tuqiri will extend his deal with Leicester beyond the end of the season. And that would be a shame because what Tuqiri brings at his best is an intelligence and an attitude that can only benefit Leicester and, ultimately, through association, England.

''You play a lot of percentage footy up here,'' he says, when asked to offer his initial impressions after four appearances for the Tigers. ''There's a lot of kicking out and playing to set pieces, which is one of Leicester's strengths, and I guess I've got to get used to that. But I look at a guy like Chris Latham [the former Wallabies fullback at Worcester]. He was phenomenal down south, yet he probably hasn't touched the ball as much as he would have liked. I suppose it isn't that surprising. Just have a glance at who is on top of the premiership now [Saracens]. They just kick the leather off the ball and expect other teams to make mistakes. It's rugby, but personally, I don't find it that exciting.''

The dilemma for Leicester is whether they integrate Tuqiri into their existing system, which can be a little one-dimensional, or whether they feed off his instincts and knowledge to bring more variety to their game. Not that Tuqiri is stupid enough to suggest a complete rejig. ''Australia play the way they do because we haven't had the players to be as 'bash, barge and in your face' as an England team. We have to be smart about how we play, and we do approach it differently. I don't know if we haven't been smart here at Leicester, but with Mattie [Matt O'Connor, the Leicester backs coach and another Aussie] we're certainly trying a few things. Smart means training a bit differently. We do a lot of contact work up here. I've not done as much as that in Australia. The forwards work hard. Maybe we need to do a bit more of that at home.''

The other factor, of course, apart from the will to effect change, is whether there are enough players in and around the Leicester squad with appropriate game-management skills to make it work. That's something else I've admired in Tuqiri. He's no Einstein. He recently completed a small business course, courtesy of the Australian Players' Association, and has absolutely no idea of what he will do with the qualification, but he is rugby savvy.

''I think intelligence is important. Raw talent gets you to a certain place, but you look at the best players in the world, and they offer something else. You don't have to be IQ smart, but you've got to know your way around a field and you've got to know your way 'round a team as well. The team environment is massive. If you're in a good side, the team comes before anyone else.''

And here we arrive at a dislocation because Tuqiri had a chequered history with the Wallabies, getting into trouble on numerous occasions for breaching team rules, mainly, it appears, after taking on too much grog. Eventually, the ARU and coach Robbie Deans had enough, and in July this year, after yet another incident, Tuqiri's contract was terminated. He refuses to comment on the matter, citing a confidentiality clause in the severance package.

Tuqiri acknowledges the need to sharpen up.

Just turned 30 and with a strong desire somehow to find a way back into the Wallabies set-up for the 2011 World Cup, he knows he can't afford any more slip-ups.

''I've made progress,'' he said, on the subject of self-control.

''I've had my days when I probably wasn't as disciplined as I should have been. I've had to grow up over the last few years. But I still get nervous before matches. The Heineken Cup is a new competition for me and was high on my list when I was looking at clubs to join. It's a big stage, and I'm enjoying the hype.''

If only the British weather were more clement.

Paul Ackford is a former England second-rower who made his debut against Australia in 1988 and played in all three Tests of the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia in 1989.